#18. May 4, 2015
2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.
James 1: 19-20
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
These verses in Chapter one are part of a larger section that is about “Listening and Doing” (Jas 1:19-27). James, Jesus’ brother takes the more intimate approach of family: we are brothers and sisters in Christ and brothers and sisters of Christ. Amen! In this section James begins with excellent advice that is applicable to every person regardless of persuasion. He comes down on anger as displeasing to God. Therefore, pointing back to his advice, “accept the word planted in you”. He is speaking of the Good News of salvation, faith in Christ, His work for us, and what Jesus teaches us.
In verses 22-25, James relates the foolishness of listening to the Good News but not applying it to our lives, something that his brother Jesus taught him and teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 7:24-27). James uses the mirror metaphor: looking into it and immediately forgetting what one looks like. He expands it by encouraging us to look into the “perfect law”(Jesus’ moral teachings and The Ten Words) and looking into ourselves “remembering what they (we) have heard and doing it –they (we) will be blest in what they (we) do”.
At the end of his instruction of “Listening and Doing,” James moves to practical application. It is a surprising turn in his thinking, after pointing to the perfect law he gives unencumbered advice, it is not complicated, not heavy theology, easy to understand, and pleasing to God: take care of the poor, the disenfranchised, those who have no help, and stay away from the ways of the world. We are not to hide away in our churches and homes but engage our culture: taking care of those in need and hurting but rejecting the culture that allows and perpetrates injustice and work to correct it.
James begins this section with verse 19 and 20 showing us that he is a hand on kind of guy. Open your ears, close your mouth, and stay away from anger. Religion is never passive: “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is” grace, compassion and forgiveness in our lives. (See devotional # 17) Let us get out of our churches and get our hands and feet dirty! James assures us that God blesses our efforts. Praise is to God!
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